It might seem contradicting how the headline may read. How come Microsoft is getting hardware companies to make Google Android-Chrome deals? But the fact is it is not some headline error. Microsoft is striking up licensing deals with hardware makers that use Google Android and Chrome operating systems on their products.

It’s quite a complicated thing that Microsoft and Google find themselves in here. But that’s how the tech world is revolving on right now. It is all about patents and how companies seem to infringe on some technological patents on their products that another company seems to hold. That is what’s happening to Microsoft and Google today. It seems that Microsoft has found Google violating some of the Microsoft patents on its Android and Chrome products. But instead of filing a lawsuit against Google, Microsoft is doing something else- coming up with patent-protection deals with companies using Google Android or Google Chrome on their manufactured products.

Microsoft has approached several companies and has so far made licensing agreements with them. One of the recent hardware companies to join in is China-based Compal Electronics. The agreement revolves around the hardware company paying Microsoft undisclosed royalties for the use of Google Android or Chrome operating systems on smartphones, tablets and other devices. So far, according to Microsoft, it has made similar licensing deals to other hardware manufacturers, which now accounts to half’ of the world’s original design manufacturers.

Microsoft may have found for itself a relative goldmine here. It is able to find some revenue stream on something that they haven’t manufactured directly. Just be the strength of its patent portfolio, Microsoft may just be able to ride on to the success of one of its competitors, Google. Instead of disrupting business processes by filing a lawsuit, it has somehow found a way to come out richer by making licensing deals instead. One might consider it as a win-win situation, with Microsoft surely becoming the biggest winner of all.